''A Sheep in the Deep'' is a 1962 Warner Bros. ''

Merrie Melodies ''Merrie Melodies'' is an American animated series of comedy short films produced by Warner Bros. starting in 1931, during the golden age of American animation, and ending in 1969. Then some new cartoons were produced from the late 1970s to the ...

'' cartoon directed by

Chuck Jones Charles Martin Jones (September 21, 1912 – February 22, 2002) was an American animator, director, and painter, best known for his work with Warner Bros. Cartoons on the '' Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Melodies'' series of shorts. He wrote, pro ...

and

Maurice Noble Maurice James Noble (May 1, 1911 – May 18, 2001) was an American animation production designer, background artist and layout designer whose contributions to the industry spanned more than 60 years. He was a long-time associate and right-hand man ...

. The short was released on February 10, 1962, and stars Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog. Like all Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog shorts, this short is mostly composed of

visual gag In comedy, a visual gag or sight gag is anything which conveys its humour visually, often without words being used at all. The gag may involve a physical impossibility or an unexpected occurrence. The humor is caused by alternative interpretatio ...

Mel Blanc Melvin Jerome Blanc (born Blank ; May 30, 1908July 10, 1989) was an American voice actor and radio personality whose career spanned over 60 years. During the Golden Age of Radio, he provided character voices and vocal sound effects for comedy r ...

provided for the voices of all the characters. It is the sixth short featuring Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog, as well as the last cartoon featuring Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog to be directed by Jones (their next appearance was in '' Woolen Under Where'', released in 1963 and directed by

Phil Monroe Philip Monroe (October 31, 1916 – July 13, 1988) was an American animator and director best known for working for Warner Bros. Cartoons under the supervision of Chuck Jones. Monroe had also worked for UPA. Career Monroe started working at ...

and Richard Thompson). It was also the first of the last two cartoons featuring them to be written by

(the previous cartoons were written by

Michael Maltese Michael Maltese (February 6, 1908 – February 22, 1981) was an American story man for classic animated cartoon shorts. He is best known for working in the 1950s on a series of '' Merrie Melodies'' cartoons with director Chuck Jones, notably " ...

, who had already left for

Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ) was an American animation studio and production company which was active from 1957 to 2001. It was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera following the decision of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to c ...

in 1959. The second was '' Woolen Under Where'').

Plot

Like all Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog shorts, this one revolves around Ralph Wolf trying to steal the sheep which Sam Sheepdog is guarding. Like '' Ready, Woolen and Able'', this short begins with a juxtaposition of how Ralph and Sam get to work. Sam wakes up at dawn and takes a leisurely stroll to work as Ralph sleeps in and the sun rises. Just as Sam reaches the time clock and lifts his hair to read the time, Ralph's alarm clock goes off, triggering the

conveyor system A conveyor system is a common piece of mechanical handling equipment that moves materials from one location to another. Conveyors are especially useful in applications involving the transport of heavy or bulky materials. Conveyor systems allow ...

that he uses to get to work. A claw lifts his blanket, his bed tilts, dropping him into a trap door where he falls into the shower. After a second in the shower, a spring below him engages, sending him into a towel and onto a

roller skate Roller skates, are shoes or bindings that fit onto shoes that are worn to enable the wearer to roll along on wheels. The first roller skate was an inline skate design, effectively an ice skate with wheels replacing the blade. Later the "quad s ...

. As he rides the roller skate down its rail and dries off with the towel, he is fed a slice of toast and coffee. Finally, he grabs his lunch from a hook and rides the roller skate out his front door, down the path, and punches into work before Sam. As always, the two merrily greet each other. 1. Ralph begins with the straightforward approach of sneaking into the field and snatching a sheep. As he walks back, Sam drops a banana peel which Ralph slips on. Instead of falling immediately, Ralph slides around on the banana peel and on his way back Sam snags the stolen sheep with a lasso. As Ralph continues to slide forward, he begins to say "Ooh, I'd like to..." only to hit a tree face-first. 2. This time Ralph digs a hole under Sam and out the side of the cliff face and decides to try to snatch a sheep with a lasso in the same way Sam did in Ralph's last attempt. This is successful, but while Ralph is pulling the sheep up Sam leans over the edge and into Ralph's hole, where he glares at Ralph intimidatingly. Ralph innocently lowers the sheep down, but Sam grabs Ralph by the neck and hits him on the head, propelling him into a tree trunk. As Ralph climbs out of the tree trunk, he resembles a stack of pancakes. 3. Ralph's next plan is to tunnel under Sam, cut out a circle of earth around Sam with a saw, and raise that circle high into the air with a

jack Jack may refer to: Places * Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community * Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community * Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas, USA People and fictional characters * Jack (given name), a male given name, ...

. Successful, Ralph ties a dinner napkin around his neck and prepares to steal a sheep. However, as he is doing this, Sam pulls out a corkscrew and removes the piece of earth that the jack is supporting, sending the entire chunk of earth crashing onto Ralph. 4. In Ralph's fourth attempt, he ties himself to a bunch of

helium balloon A gas balloon is a balloon that rises and floats in the air because it is filled with a gas lighter than air (such as helium or hydrogen). When not in flight, it is tethered to prevent it from flying away and is sealed at the bottom to prevent t ...

s and floats over Sam. Sam calmly pours a box of BB pellets into his mouth and shoots at Ralph's balloons with a

blow gun A blowgun (also called a blowpipe or blow tube) is a simple ranged weapon consisting of a long narrow tube for shooting light projectiles such as dart (missile), darts. It operates by having the projectile placed inside the pipe and using the fo ...

. Ralph is left grasping on to a single balloon, but the knot on the balloon slips and Ralph is projected into Sam. Sam grabs Ralph by the neck and prepares to drop him off the cliff while Ralph starts praying softly. However, before that can happen, the time clock whistle blows and Sam puts Ralph back on the cliff and lets go of him, then the two of them head off for lunch. They enjoy their sandwiches and Sam shares his coffee with Ralph, then they have a smoke break. They both walk back to the cliff, and as soon as the whistle blows to signal the end of lunchtime, Sam grabs Ralph by the neck while holding him over the cliff and finally drops him. 5. Ralph's next plan is to build a large slide behind Sam and dropping a cannonball down the slide. Sam casually points a large spring at the end of the slide, sending the cannonball back up the slide and into Ralph's dropped jaw. Ralph angrily walks away as the cannonball inside his tail weighs him down. 6. Ralph then attempts to use a Warner Bros. Records album set titled "Music To Put Sheep Dogs To Sleep By Warner Bros. Records" to put Sam to sleep. This appears to be successful and Ralph tests to make sure that Sam really is asleep, in much the same way as he tested to make sure Sam could not see him in '' Double or Mutton''. After walking off, stealing a sheep and preparing to eat it, the sheep turns out to be Sam in disguise, also similar to '' Double or Mutton''. However, the two of them continue to remove disguises. * Ralph turns out to be a sheep, * Sam turns out to be Ralph, * The sheep turns out to be Sam, * Ralph turns out to be a sheep, * Sam turns out to be Ralph. Finally, Ralph grabs the sheep by the neck, and the sheep costume collapses. It turns out to have a stick of dynamite inside of it. However, Ralph is saved by the bell when the time clock whistles. Sam walks in off-screen and extinguishes the stick of dynamite by pinching it with his fingers, then says "It's too close to quittin' time, Ralph; let's pick it up there in the morning." The two amicably wish each other good night.

Crew

*Co-Director & Layouts:

*Animation:

Tom Ray Thomas Archer Ray (August 2, 1919 – April 6, 2010) was an American animator. Career Ray was born in Williams, Arizona. He began work at Warner Bros. Cartoons in 1937, working under Tex Avery for six months. He applied for a job at MGM and ...

Ken Harris Karyl Ross "Ken" Harris (July 31, 1898 – March 24, 1982) was an American animator best known for his work at Warner Bros. Cartoons under the supervision of director Chuck Jones. Life and career Ken Harris was born in Tulare County, Califor ...

, Richard Thompson & Bob Bransford *Assistant Layouts: Corny Cole *Backgrounds:

Philip DeGuard Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who populariz ...

& William Butler *Film Editor: Treg Brown *Voice Characterizations:

*Music:

Milt Franklyn Milton J. Franklyn (born Milton Julius Frumkin; September 16, 1897 – April 24, 1962) was an American musical composer and arranger who worked on the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes animated cartoons. Career Franklyn was born in New York City Se ...

*Produced by

David H. DePatie David Hudson DePatie (December 24, 1929 – September 23, 2021) was an American film and television producer who was the last executive in charge of the original Warner Bros. Cartoons studio and the longest-living until his death. He also formed ...

& John W. Burton *Written & Directed by

Home media

This short is available on the ''Looney Tunes: Assorted Nuts'' Laserdisc.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sheep in the Deep, A 1962 films 1962 animated films 1962 short films Merrie Melodies short films Short films directed by Chuck Jones Films directed by Maurice Noble Films about wolves Animated films about dogs 1960s Warner Bros. animated short films 1960s English-language films Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog films

Plot

Crew

Home media

See also

References

External links